In the Westminster Confession of Faith, article 29, paragraph 7, we read these words:
Worthy communicators, who participate externally in the visible elements of this sacrament, also receive intimately, by faith, real and sincere, the crucified Christ and all the blessings of his death, and feed on him, not carnally or bodily, but spiritually; not being the body and blood of Christ body or carnally in bread and wine, neither with them nor under them, but spiritually and truly present to the faith of believers in this ordinance, as are the elements present in their external senses.
- In this confession.
- We see a distinction between the actual presence and the physical presence of Jesus.
- When he articulates this notion of Jesus’ real presence.
- It means that.
- Spiritually speaking.
- He is truly present.
- What does that mean? First.
- Let’s consider what it doesn’t mean.
- Sometimes we say.
- “I can’t be with you next Sunday.
- But I’ll be in the spirit.
- “What do we mean when we say that? What we mean is that while I am not able to do that in terms of physical location.
- I will think of you.
- This can be considered a kind of spiritual presence.
- But we would hardly understand this feeling of someone’s presence somewhere in the mind as a real presence.
- This is certainly not what confession means or what reformers like John Calvin wanted to say when they spoke of Christ’s real and spiritual presence at the Lord’s Supper.
What did Calvin mean? First, let’s take a look at Calvin’s important formula, which is expressed in the Latin phrase finitum non capax infinitum, is a philosophical principle drawn from reason and logic, Calvin said that the finish cannot contain infinity, if you have an infinite amount of water, you cannot contain that water in a 200 ml glass. It’s simple to understand, isn’t it?
As for the human nature of Jesus, Calvin said that the human body of Jesus could not contain the infinity of the divinity of the Son of God, it is just another way of saying that, although the human body of Jesus is not omnipresent, the divine nature of Christ is; However, Calvin said not only that Christ is truly present at the Lord’s Supper, in reference to his divine nature, but also that in the Lord’s Supper, those who participate in him are truly strengthened and nurtured by the human being The nature of Christ. How is this possible if human nature is not ubiquitous?Calvin said that Christ becomes present before us by divine nature.
In the New Testament, Jesus talks about leaving and staying: “Little children, I am with you for a while; you will look for me, and what I have told the Jews also now I say to others: where do I go?Id, can’t you go? (Jn 13:33). The disciples saw him ascend to heaven, but he said to them, “Although in a way I go to the Father, despite this, in another sense, I am with you, always, until the end of the centuries. Jesus spoke of a presence and an absence. Moreover, when Paul spoke of Christ’s mortal ministry, he said that he never knew Christ “Kata sarka,” that is, in the flesh. Christ in his earthly incarnation; The Apostle did not know Christ during his mortal ministry. The Bible says that Christ is at the right hand of God, and the idea is that he is not there in terms of his visible physical presence.
The Heidelberg Catechism speaks of this when it says: “As regards the human nature of Christ, he is no longer with us. ” The Church has always understood that human nature has ascended to heaven. “As for his divine nature,” says the catechism, “it is never absent from us. ” Although Christ ascended to heaven in his human nature, his divine nature remains omnipresent and is particularly present in the Church. Doesn’t this mean that at the time of ascension human nature went to heaven and left the divine nature and the perfect union of the two natures was undone? No. The incarnation is still a reality. It was a reality even when Christ died. At the death of Christ, the divine nature was united with a human body; the human soul went to heaven, and the human soul that went to heaven merged with the divine nature. The human body, which was in the grave, was united with the divine nature. So if we can understand that human nature is localized because it is human, human nature is elsewhere than in this world. However, human nature in heaven remains perfectly united with divine nature.
Remember that if we are in communion with the divine nature, we are in communion with the person of the Son of God in all that it is, when I meet him here, in the divine nature, and enter into communion with the person of Jesus, this divine nature remains linked and united to human nature; because I have fellowship with divine nature, I am in communion not only with divine nature, but also with human nature, which is in perfect unity with divine nature, without human nature taking on itself the ability to be in all these different places. Remember: at no time is human nature separated from divine nature; therefore, we can affirm the unity of the two natures and affirm the location of human nature without deifying it. And the person of Christ can be present in more than one place, more than once, because of the omnipresence of the divine nature.
It is important that we see the difference between this opinion and Roman Catholic opinion, Roman Catholic opinion attributes to human nature the power to descend to earth in all different places at the same time, in this way you can find the human body of Christ. in as many Roman churches as there are in the world; we reject this view because the body of Christ is in heaven; We meet the true person of Christ in all our churches and enter into blessed communion with all Christ by virtue of our contact with his divine nature, but his human body remains in heaven. This is consistent with the way Jesus speaks in the New Testament when He says, “I go to the Father, but I will be with you. “of himself, which he promises in the New Testament, is a real presence and true communion with his people.
Think of Westminster’s confession
In the sacrament, we not only participate externally in the visible elements, but we also receive intimately, through faith, true and truly, the crucified Christ and all the blessings of his death, and feed on him, not carnally or bodily, but spiritually not being the body and blood of Christ body or carnally on bread and wine, neither with them nor under them , but spiritually and truly present to the faith of believers in this ordinance, as are the elements present in their external senses.
Because of the omnipresence of the Son of God, in his divinity we truly find all Christ in the Lord’s Supper and are fed by the Bread of Heaven.
A final observation on the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church during the Lord’s Supper. They believe that the Mass represents a repetition of the sacrificial death of Christ each time it is celebrated. Christ is, as it were, crucified again. Of course, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is a difference between the original sacrifice that Jesus made on Calvary and the way the sacrifice is offered at Mass. The difference is this: on Calvary, the sacrificial death of Jesus was a death that involved royal blood. . The sacrifice made today is a sacrifice without the shedding of blood. However, it is a real and real sacrifice. It was this aspect, along with the doctrine of transubstantiation, that caused much controversy in the 16th century, as the idea of any repetition seemed to the reformers to violate the biblical concept that Christ was offered once and for all. Therefore, in the Roman Catholic view of the sacrificial nature of the Mass, did the Reformers see a rejection of character? Once and for all? of the expiatory offering made by Christ during his atonement (Jn 19,28-30; Heb 10,1-18).
Many evangelicals have doubts about biblical teaching about the Lord’s food. In many churches, the Last Supper is not carried out with the desired frequency or reverence. In this book in the Crucial Questions series, Dr. RCSproul biblically demonstrates the meaning of The Last Supper and shows how vitally important his practice is to the lives of Christians and churches. Here, explore the origins of the Last Supper, explain what it does for us, and refute the misconceptions about this important sacrament. The reading of this book should aumentar. la the reader’s admiration for the work of Christ, as can be seen in the elements of bread and wine, which symbolize his flesh and blood delivered on behalf of his people.
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